Art of uniformly freezing solutions in vacuum



July 23, 1935. D. K. WARNER I ART OF UNIFORMLY FREEZING SOLUTIONS IN VACUUM Filed Jan. 21, 1930 IN V EN TOR.

Patented :luly 23, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ART or nmronmr FREEZING SOLUTIONS IN vAoUUM Douglas Kent Warner, Bristol, Conn.

Application January 21, 1930, Serial No. 422,245 4 Claims. (Cl. 62-172) Fig. 1 represents a complete brine freezing with a slightly lighter load of frozen fish with the plant in which the brine is frozen into a slush melted brine all pumped overboard. The fish form by spraying it directly into a high vacuum could be thrown on the slush the minute they the water vapor being carried off by a centrifugal were caught, and the heat transfer to the drained 5 compressor and condensed between falling sheets frozen brine is so rapid that they can be frozen 5 of water in a new type of atmospheric condenser. faster with an 18 deg. frozen brine than if placed The finely divided frozen brine slush mixed with in a pan in liquid brine 18 deg. below zero. The liquid brine, drops thru the standpipe G, out a reason for this is that the fish melts a pocket just trap at the bottom, and out into atmospheric presits shape in the frozen brine so that it comes in.

sure for use. actual contact with the ice on all of one side. 10

Fig. 2 represents a section of the condenser The brine runs away as fast as it melts so that it water sheets at the line CC, showing the access does not soak into the fish as it does when freezof water vapor to said sheets. ing the fish in cold liquid brine. After the fish Fig. 3 shows the compressor blades and method are frozen they are stowed in a dry compartment of cooling same and the multistage precooling beneath t frozen brine and re rat by 15 of the makeup brine, Meat and other products may be frozen rapidly Referring to Fig. 1; B represents a pump drawin like manner because as long as the salt water ing sea water up to plate AA at top of condenser. drains y a q y 85% forms t can not e t This plate is cut with broken circular slots perhe pr duc as it would where brine in close conmitting sheets of water H Fig. 2 to drop down. tact w t food, w med up a rifle f om the 20 Water vapor and air enter between these sheets heat of the meat, 0011141 Soak back in the Still and as the sheets drop they are brought together frozen P in a single stream of very rapidly moving water. In 1 number 4 ShOWS Conveyor Carrying The steam is thereby compressed and condensed the frozen prod to an verhead bu ker for between the sheets and the air is entrained and loading directly into p trucks delivery Pails 25 carried t 1 t The water t runs in) in the trucks or to bunkers of refrigerator trucks. large h l pond where natural evaporation Below the trucks a sump (a) receives the melted creases the density to a point where it contains returned brine and t makeup Ocean brine from about 20% more water than required for the P p From. (a) the brine is p p to product involved. Thus if an 18 degree F. temp. storage W, a d r e t mo e p 30 is desired the sea water is evaporated until it consure forces it 1 thru fl a controlled a v Z tains about 8% salt by weight and the evaporaand P p 5 t0 the p and last Stage o the tion during freezing will increase the concentratrifllgal compressor vThe p or is bu lt tion during freezing to about 10%. If a 5 deg. with two rotors ea ounting v al sets of temp. is required the water is further dried or blades ea h comprisin ne co p ess o sta e, 35 salt added until the density is about 1.12 or 16% each Set Of rotor blades (8) being pa d from salt which will result in a finished product of 20% the next by a Stationary Set f b es (9) which salt by Weight giving a constant 5 deg. temperareverse the motion of the steam thereby comture. Thus if a 5 deg. temperature is required pressing it. The D S Of S a y blades are in California; sea water containing 3% salt must Set 011 the vable ring l6 and the lower set in 40 be spread over a pond one inch deep and allowed e w easing a The ke-up b ne from to stand 4 or 5 days until it is only of an inch p pe 5 s i pass wn v r h rin I 6 is deep when it may be run into the compressor. If dammed up by e rings 0f Stationary blades to an 18 deg, temperature will suffi e it may b ithform rings of brine in contact with the blades.

drawn when of an inch deep at th end of 3 to The total increase in pressure thru all stages of 45 4 days, and twice as much brine slush will be Compression amounts to y about A p et obtained at each withdrawal. in. or about 6 in. total height of water. At its If the melted brine is returned to the plant final pressure the steam is still less dense lighter after use with a loss in handling of not much over or rarer than the steam leaving the last stages of i 20% the sea water maybe used for make-up withthe most economical and largest steam turbine. 50

out any drying process preliminary thereto. For It will be readily seen that the velocity energy most purposes on shore the melted brine would be of this steam leaving the turbine blades could not returned to the plant as the most convenient place stop the downward flow of brine or water of about to dispose of it, but a fishing fleet would leave 100,000 times the density. Large quantities of port loaded down with frozen brine and. return water vapor leave the fluid as it passes between 55 stages thru the stationary blades as it both cools itself and absorbs the heat of compression and friction, from the blades by cooling them thru evaporation. The brine in each ring cools itself by evaporation to the temperature corresponding to the boiling point at the pressure of each stage. The entrained air in the make-up brine passes directly to the condenser without adding to the load of the compressor as it would if introduced directly. Also the make-up brine is cooled by stages, thus greatly reducing the work of cooling. Also the vapor is compressed almost isothermally due to the recooling at every set of stationary blades and so much more power is saved. The brine drops from ring 15 onto plate P which carries it back over the lower compressor rotor and sprinkles it thru the steam to the lower casing, where it passes thru the lower sets of blades and on down the inside walls of pipe G.

This together with some of the brine which was not frozen in the mist of the spray nozzles, K and J, and soaks into the pile of frozen beads of brine I at the top of solution at H. The weight of the solution causes the whole to move slowly down and out against atmospheric pressure thru the trap [8. The liquid brine passes thru a screen S into tank T being carried down in small filled pipes to keep it out of contact with the air to prevent much reabsorption. The frozen brine passes out over the discharge lip and onto conveyor 4. Pump U takes a constant stream of salt water from tank T and throws it thru pipe V and out nozzles K.

When most of the spray freezes there will be a shortage of brine at S and the float ball X will drop opening valve Z and causing more makeup Water to run in pipe I5. If the level in T drops too suddenly float ball Y will'drop, closing the water to the pump U and shutting 01f sprays until enough make-up water has been supplied. It will be noted that the ice formed is a uniform homogeneous mass at a temperature above the cryohydrate a new product for which Letters Patent were applied for Nov. 9, 1927. A sulphuric acid absorber similar to the condenser may replace compressor.

I claim:

1. A method of uniformly freezing a water solution with and without emulsions and containing more water than that of the cryohydrate solution consisting of spraying the weak solution into a high vacuum vessel, and rapidly removing the vapors of evaporation at such a rate as to produce almost instantaneous freezing of the remaining solution.

2. A method of uniformly freezing a liquid containing solids in solution and emulsion containing more water than that corresponding to the cryohydrates of the solutes consisting of spraying said solution into a partially evacuated vessel to produce evaporation by removal of heat of fusion of said liquid, and removing the vapors resulting from said evaporation at such a rate that the liquid is frozen in small particles containing uniform proportions of the constituents of said solution.

3. A method of manufacturing ice consisting of spraying water into a high vacuum chamber, rapidly removing the vapors of evaporation to produce ice from the remaining water, and rapidly removing said ice to prevent accumulation in said vacuum chamber and introducing separately a weak brine to convey the ice and effect its removal.

4. A method of producing a circulating refrigerating medium consisting of spraying water or a water solution into a vacuum chamber, rapidly removing the vapors of evaporation to produce finely divided particles of ice in suspension, and washing the ice out of the vacuum and into the refrigerating system.

DOUGLAS KENT WARNER. 

